Diagrammatic Presentation of Data

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If data are presented in the form of diagram, it attracts the reader and it is easy to represent a table data. Diagrammatic presentation helps in quick understanding of data. 

In today's post I will discuss one-dimensional, two-dimensional, pie diagrams, pictogram and cartogram. 

First let us see what are the significance and general rules for constructing the diagrams...

Significance of Diagrammatic Presentation of Data
1. Easy Understanding	2. Attractive Look	3. Greater Memorizing Effect	4. Comparison of Data

	Components of Diagrams
	1. Title of the Diagram	5. Index of Diagram
	2. Size of the Diagram	6. Neat and Clean Diagram
	3. Scale of the Diagram	7. Simple Diagram
	4. Footnotes

Diagrams are categorized under the following heads...

1. One Dimensional Diagrams or Bar Diagrams
1. Simple Bar Diagram
2. Subdivided Bar Diagram
3. Multiple Bar Diagram
4. Percentage Bar Diagram
5. Deviation Bar Diagram
6. Broken Bar Diagram
2. Two Dimensional Diagrams
1. Rectangles
2. Squares
3. Circles
3. Pie Diagrams
4. Pictogram
5. Cartogram

1. One Dimensional Diagrams or Bar Diagrams

Bar diagrams are the most commonly used diagrams. Note: for large number of observations lines may be drawn instead of bars to save space.

Simple Bar Diagram -> If someone has to represent the data based on one variable, then the simple bar diagram can be used. 

Fiscal Year	Average Participation
2010	40,302
2011	44,709
2012	46,609
2013	47,636
2014	46,664
2015	45,767
2016	44,220
2017	42,317
2018	40,776
2019	35,703

This dataset (from Kaggle) focuses on public assistance programs in the United States that provide food, namely SNAP and WIC

The simple bar diagram of the above data is given below:

Subdivided Bar Diagram -> If various components of a variable are to be represented in a single diagram then subdivided bar diagrams are used. Note: If the number of components are more than 10 or 12, the subdivided bar diagrams are not used due to overloaded with information and cannot be compared and understood. 

Cost of grocery items (in INR) month wise	April 2021	May 2021	June 2021
Mustard oil 1 ltr	154	167	177
Atta 5 kg	128	132	137
Gobind Bhog Rice 5 kg	297	304	329
Almond 1 kg	155	167	170
Juice	130	142	147

The data is taken randomly

On the basis of above table required subdivided bar diagram is given below:

Multiple Bar Diagram -> In multiple bar diagrams two or more groups of interrelated data are presented. 

Multiple bar diagram of the above data is given below:

Percentage Bar Diagram -> Subdivided bar diagram drawn on the basis of the percentage of the total is known as percentage bar diagram. 

Percentage diagram of the above data is given below:

Deviation Bar Diagram -> For representing net profits, net loss, net exports, net imports, etc.., the deviation bar diagram is used.

Year	Sale(in %)	Net Profits(in %)
2019	5%	15%
2020	8%	19%
2021	10%	-6%

Deviation bar diagram of the above data is given below:

Broken Bar Diagram -> If large variation exists in the values of certain type of data, i.e. some values are very small and some are very large, then in order to gain space for the smaller bars of the data, the large bar(s) may be presented as broken bar.

2. Two Dimensional Diagrams

In one dimensional diagrams only length of the bar is important and comparison of bars are done on the basis of their length only, while in two dimensional diagrams both length and width of the bars are considered. 

3. Pie Diagrams

Pie diagram (Pie Chart) is used when the requirement of the situation is to know the relationship between whole of the thing and its parts.

Cost of grocery items (in INR) month wise	April 2021
Mustard oil 1 ltr	154
Atta 5 kg	128
Gobind Bhog Rice 5 kg	297
Almond 1 kg	155
Juice	130

Pie diagram of the above data is given below:

For Pictogram and Cartogram we use infographics.

Summary

In this post we have covered diagrammatic presentation of data. We discussed One Dimensional Diagrams or Bar Diagrams, Two Dimensional Diagrams, Pie Diagrams and how to draw different types of diagrams.

To know - How to choose the best suitable diagram read my this post.

As always, if you have a question or a suggestion related to the topic covered in this article, please add it as a comment so other readers can benefit from the discussion.